It is common that in the event of accidents involving sudden stopping of a vehicle, passengers suffer injuries from their heads colliding with the front windshield.
In order to reduce such injuries, devices such as air bags are being installed in some vehicles. The airbag device serves as an impact absorber by preventing the passenger from impacting his/her head into the front windshield by inflating a bag with pressurized air when the vehicle experiences impact greater than a certain level.
However, with the airbags there was concern that they would lose their effectiveness as an impact guard if punctured by broken glass from the windshield. Furthermore, the working mechanism of the airbag is too complicated, creating problems in assembly, checking and maintenance.
This invention was created with these problem points in mind. The purpose of this invention is to provide an impact guard device which ensures prevention of impact of a passenger into the front windshield, while at the same time, keeping a simple structure.
This invention solves the above issue by providing a front windshield impact guarding device for passengers, which has shield material in sheet form installed along the inner surface of the front windshield. The sheet material is joined to a pull-down mechanism which forcibly pulls the shield material down when activated by a connecting trigger mechanism which responds to frontal impact.
Shield material in sheet form, where at least the lower edge is made of material which blocks sunlight, is installed along the inner surface of the front windshield so that the material can move up and down. In addition a guide rail is installed on the pillars adjacent the abovementioned windshield, and the guide rail has a stopper mechanism to stop the abovementioned shield material at a field position. This guide rail is joined to a pull-down mechanism which forcibly pulls the guide rail down when activated by a connecting trigger mechanism which responds to frontal impact.
In the event of a collision where the vehicle experiences a strong frontal impact, the trigger mechanism activate the pull-down mechanism which immediately pulls down the shield material on the inner surface of the front windshield. Therefore, if a passenger were to hit his/her head, this shield material not only protects and decreases the force of the impact on the head, because it covers the front windshield, it prevents injuries from broken glass.
With the invention in which the shield material is formed with material that blocks out the sun, the shield material can move up and down along the guide rail. Also, by fixing the lower end of the shield material at a set height, it can be used under normal circumstances as a sun visor. In particular, if the entire windshield is covered by the shield material when the vehicle is parked, it can be used as a sun shield to prevent overheating of the interior.